"Two days until Georgia's Double Singularity tournament - the first one ever organised for high level players - and gosh. Brad, I'm so excited. How about you?"

"I know, Jolene. Me too. And, I heard we have an extra reason to be excited."

"Really? What's the reason?"

"A little bird told me that our big mystery player, extra_ordinary, has entered Georgia's tournament. And he's making a physical appearance there."

"What?" Jolene gasped. "After all this time, they're stepping out of the shadows? Do we know why they picked this one? Why now?"

"No, we don't," Brad replied. "All we know is that they put their account on hiatus a few days ago, only to suddenly take it off and enter this contest."

"So much mystery. I bet that's going to be great for the viewer count on that livestream."

"I know I'm going to wa-"

Game commentator Brad's voice suddenly muted as my phone rang.

"Hey, Cindy," I said, picking up.

"Oh my God!" she yelled in my ear. "Did you just-- did Brad and Jolene-- are you?"

Cindy couldn't bring out a full sentence and I interrupted her before she'd get stuck forever.

"Yes," I said. "Yes, that's me. Yes, I'm using my account."

"But you were so against that!" Cindy called out. "I mean, are you sure? You can use mine, too, if you want. I made it to gold last night."

I smiled through the tightness in my jaw. "That's great, Cindy. Congratulations. But it'd be considered fraud if I used someone else's account. I don't want to get in trouble, nor get you in trouble."

"Oh... I understand. I don't think Mom would like it either if I gave you my account." Cindy paused. I sensed her hesitating. "I don't think she likes you every much. I heard her tell Asa she doesn't want you coming over anymore. But I don't know why, I think you're nice."

I let my eyes fall closed for a moment, taking a deep breath. It was to be expected, really. I already knew Mrs. Jennings didn't want me around Asa. Her saying that behind my back was no surprise, but it was still like a punch to the gut.

"It's okay, honestly," I tried to reassure Cindy, kind of cursing her mom for not keeping her out of this. "Thank you, but I'll be fine."

It wasn't alright, really. The media circus started a few hours later. The organisers from Georgia's tournament first called me. When I didn't pick up, they left a voicemail message, and finally, a few hours later, emailed me.

They wanted me to do an exclusive interview with them for their stream, and it was pretty see-through what their intentions were. They wanted to be the first to do a sort of face-reveal.

I doubted that many people would care about my face, but in the gaming world my presence could be good for a couple of thousand views more.

...It was a good way or rationalising this. There were billions of people in the world, and only the tiniest of tiny fraction of all those billions knew about my stream. Even fewer were actually invested in it.

Unfortunately, that tiniest of tiny fraction who cared about my stream had infiltrated my school.

"Your competition is fucking extra_ordinary, Rolf!" I heard one of Rolf's friends tell him in the hallway.

I held my breath, meekly walking behind him and his group, hoping they wouldn't notice me and I could slip into the classroom behind them without being tripped.

"He's like a pro level player, right? Why are they even allowed in there -- that's not fair!" Vicky huffed.

"Tournament only stated a bottom gold rank prerequisite." Rolf shrugged. "He's above that, but it's still his right to join."

"That's right. Guess it's just bad luck that extra_ordinary is able to travel here."

I couldn't hear the rest of the conversation, as I took a seat all the way at the other side of the classroom, keeping my head down.

No matter how small I made myself, however, Rolf still saw me.

His hand slammed on the table near my face and he laughed at how I jolted in my seat.

"The deadline passed, Gay-briel," he told me, still smirking. "And you didn't sign up. Where's my gaming computer?"

I leaned away from Rolf, but since I made the poor decision of taking a corner seat, I was literally, already cornered.

"Where is it?" Rolf taunted me again, an angry, dark glint in his eyes.

"I-I did sign up," I stammered as firmly as I could, which was really not all that firm. "You'll see me there."

"Rolf, can you take a seat as well? Class is starting." Mr. Boston clapped his hands.

For a moment, I thought Rolf wasn't going to listen. He stared at me blankly, incredulously, but then he finally stepped away and slumped in his seat. I didn't dare look up from my exercise book for the rest of the hour, but I still felt him glaring at me.

I wasn't proud to say it, but I literally dashed out of the classroom after class ended, just to be ahead of Rolf and not have him corner me again.

Glancing over my shoulder every few seconds. I picked up the pace and rushed through the hallway faster and faster. Until I ran into someone.

"Oh sorry," I apologised, freezing as I looked up.

Asa's hands were resting on my upper arms, and he raised a brow as if to ask 'what's the rush?'

I darted another nervous glance over my shoulder. In a sudden moment of boldness, fuelled by pure terror of being confronted by Rolf again, I grabbed Asa's arm and tugged. Miraculously enough, he listened to my silent request and allowed me to drag him into a side-hallway where the bathrooms were.

We were all alone and I realised that strongly. Asa seemed to realise it, too. There was a certain tangible kind of tension in the air.

"I uh don't want to run into Rolf again, he's already asking about the gaming PC," I murmured.

"And you don't want him to know about extra_ordinary yet," Asa correctly deducted.

I buried my hands in my hair and started pacing. "They already want an interview - the people organising the tournament. And I'm still half-convinced it was a moment of complete madness that made me enter."

I stopped pacing and looked at Asa. "Am I mad?"

"No," Asa simply replied.

I breathed out through my mouth. "I was just thinking about how I will lose my gaming PC and everyone's respect - as far as I had any - if I don't do this. I didn't see many other options anymore to fix this."

"You bluffed pretty hard, accepting a deal involving your PC," Asa replied, cocking his head to the side.

"Another moment of complete madness." I smiled weakly.

Madness, instigated by the surges of confidence Asa kept giving me. Combined with all the damn confusion he caused, too, the effect was only greater. Especially when he was standing in front of me.

I glanced at the bathroom door. What was one more moment of madness at this point, anyway?

"Hey, Asa. Can I get your number, maybe?"

Asa blinked. It was about as much surprise as I'd ever seen on his face.

"You want my number."

"Yeah, I mean..." I realised I was playing with the rim of my shirt and wiggling my feet, and promptly stopped. "So I can text you and we can hang out? Like, outside of school and your house."

I felt my heart in my throat as Asa didn't immediately reply. Was he going to listen to his aunt? Should I have listened to his aunt telling me to stay away if I really liked him? Why did I ask?

Asa prolonged my suffering for a few more seconds, then held out his hand.

"Give me your phone."

"Oh. Oh! Right." I nearly dropped the phone in my haste to give it to Asa.

He regarded me for a moment, his expression blank. His lips parted a teeny tiny bit like he was going to speak, but he didn't go through with it. Instead, he typed something on my phone.

Once he was finished, he pressed the phone back into my hands, fingers brushing against fingers.

"I don't usually give people my number. Don't share this with anyone," he warned me

"I-I won't," I promised.

Asa gave me a nod and brushed past me.

I looked at my phone, quickly noticing Asa hadn't stored himself under 'Asa Walker' nor 'Asa Jennings' but opted for just 'Asa.'

Whatever, it didn't matter what Asa wanted to name himself. My heart wasn't going to stop pounding for the rest of the day.

I had gotten Asa, extremely private nobody-knows-anything-about-him Asa, to finally give me his number, and in extension a promise we'd meet up.